Many people view cats as mysterious, independent creatures, often considering them untrainable. However, this perception is far from the truth. Cats are constantly learning from their interactions with their environment and us, and purposeful training offers a wealth of significant benefits for both the cat and their human companions. Far from “destroying the essence of what a cat is,” as Dr. Sarah Ellis, coauthor of The Trainable Cat, notes, training equips cats with “key skills that they need to live in society with us.” Understanding how cats learn and applying positive reinforcement techniques can lead to a happier, healthier, and more harmonious life for your feline friend, transforming challenges like vet visits into manageable routines and enhancing their overall welfare.
Beyond Tricks: Essential Life Skills for Cats
While teaching a cat to “sit pretty” or high-five can be a fun and engaging bonding experience, the most impactful cat training focuses on essential life skills. These are behaviors that contribute directly to a cat’s safety, comfort, and well-being in a human household. Key life skills include comfortably using a cat carrier, accepting vet examinations, tolerating brushing and teeth cleaning, and reliably coming when called. These practical skills not only simplify daily care and reduce stress for the cat but also prevent potential behavioral issues stemming from fear or frustration. For example, understanding how positive reinforcement works can help you avoid common pitfalls, such as using methods like water spray bottles, which are counterproductive. To learn more about ineffective methods, you might find valuable information on why do spray bottles work to train cats is not a recommended approach.
Understanding How Cats Learn
Cats learn primarily through associative learning, which includes learning by consequence (operant conditioning) and learning by association with events (classical conditioning).
Positive Reinforcement: The Cornerstone of Cat Training
Operant conditioning centers on the idea that a behavior is influenced by its consequences. Positive reinforcement, the most humane and effective method, involves giving the cat a desirable reward immediately after they perform a desired behavior. This increases the likelihood that the behavior will occur again. For most cats, food is the most potent reward, as Dr. Ellis emphasizes: “There isn’t that need to please, so we have to think about what really is rewarding for a cat, because it’s certainly not our social attention for most cats.” While some cats may enjoy being brushed as a reward, food treats like small bits of tuna, prawn, or cat treats are generally best.
It’s crucial to use appropriately sized treats to avoid overfeeding. Dr. Ellis advises breaking commercial cat treats into much smaller pieces, akin to quartering an average prawn, as “even the size that commercial cat treats come in are far too big to be a single training treat.” To prevent accidental bites, especially if your cat isn’t used to taking treats from your hand, offering rewards on a spoon, stick, or from a dish can be helpful. Training sessions should be kept short (around five minutes) and easy to prevent boredom or frustration, allowing for breaks between trials.
The Perils of Punishment: Why Aversive Methods Harm
In contrast to reinforcement, punishment aims to decrease the frequency of a behavior. However, methods involving positive punishment (adding something unpleasant) or negative reinforcement (removing something unpleasant) are strongly discouraged in animal training, particularly for cats, due to significant welfare risks.
Positive punishment, such as spraying a cat with water for jumping on a counter, can startle the cat, cause fear and stress, and damage the cat’s relationship with its owner. It also fails to teach the cat what to do instead. Research confirms that cats whose guardians use positive punishment are significantly more likely to develop behavioral problems, including eliminating outside the litter box and aggression towards new people or objects. Dr. Ellis highlights that if punishment is associated with the owner, “you are also then perceived as punishing, therefore you are not perceived in a positive light. And therefore it can really damage the relationship that you have with that cat.” This can lead to anxiety or even active fear, undermining the trust and bond between cat and human.
Negative punishment, such as stopping petting when a cat nips, can be effective if the cat is seeking more interaction. However, it requires careful application and understanding of the cat’s motivation. For instance, if a cat bites because it’s overwhelmed by petting, continuing to pet then stopping when it bites is effectively being positively punished by the cat. The bottom line is that reward-based methods are far superior for achieving desired behaviors without risking the cat’s welfare or your relationship.
Key Training Methods
Beyond understanding positive reinforcement, trainers utilize various techniques to elicit desired behaviors:
- Capturing: This involves waiting for a behavior to occur naturally (e.g., a cat sitting), then immediately marking it with a verbal cue or clicker, followed by a reward.
- Luring: Using a treat to guide the cat into the desired position. For example, moving a treat from a cat’s nose upwards and backwards can encourage them to sit.
- Shaping: Gradually molding a behavior through successive approximations, rewarding small steps that lead towards the final desired action. A clicker or marker word is often used to precisely pinpoint the correct moment to reward.
These techniques allow for flexible and effective training, catering to a cat’s natural tendencies and learning style. For more ideas on specific actions, you may wish to explore what can you train cats to do.
Transforming Vet Visits: The Power of Carrier Training
One of the most impactful [cat training benefits] is transforming stressful vet visits into more manageable experiences. Many cats associate their carrier with an unpleasant trip to the vet, leading to resistance, fear, and hiding behaviors. However, scientific studies have robustly demonstrated that cats can be trained to love their carriers.
A study published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science by scientists at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, highlighted this. Twenty-two laboratory cats were divided into a trained group and a control group. The trained cats underwent 28 eight-minute sessions, gradually learning to enter and comfortably occupy their carriers, even for short car rides. Rewards included tuna, meat sticks, or biscuits based on preference. The results were compelling: trained cats exhibited significantly less stress during mock vet exams. They were less likely to pant or hide during car rides, some even accepting treats during the journey. Their vet exams were completed much faster, with fewer attempts to escape and more cooperation. This research underscored that carrier training not only reduces feline stress but also facilitates better veterinary care. Keeping the carrier out as a normal piece of furniture and conducting “reminder” sessions with treats helps maintain positive associations. While carrier training is often the focus, other forms of comfort training such as leash train a cat can also help cats acclimate to new and potentially stressful situations outside the home.
Enhancing Welfare: Training Benefits for Shelter Cats
The benefits of cat training extend significantly to shelter cats, where stress and frustration are common. Research published in Animals investigated whether shelter cats could learn tricks like nose-touch, spin, or high-five over two weeks of clicker training. A remarkable 79% learned to nose-touch, 60% to spin, 31% to high-five, and 27% to sit. Even very shy cats participated and learned, suggesting that trick training is suitable for any feline and helps foster positive associations with people, potentially reducing fear.
Another study, published in Preventive Veterinary Medicine, explored training for frustrated shelter cats who exhibited stress behaviors like pacing or chewing bars. These cats, despite their frustration, showed significant improvement. Those in a training program (four daily ten-minute sessions outside their cage, using food rewards and a clicker to teach “high-five”) displayed more signs of contentment, such as normal grooming, relaxed postures, and spending more time at the front of their cages. In contrast, the control group became more apathetic, ate less, and groomed improperly. Crucially, the trained group also had higher levels of immunoglobulin A, suggesting enhanced immune function, and were significantly less likely to develop upper respiratory infections. This highlights the profound impact training can have on reducing stress and improving the physical and mental health of cats in challenging environments.
Building a Stronger Bond and Cognitive Enrichment
Beyond addressing specific behavioral challenges and improving welfare, training offers immense benefits for the cat-owner relationship. Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Wailani Sung emphasizes, “Teaching them basic things like a simple touch and go to your mat is so important. If [cat guardians] can start doing that, they will really develop a stronger bond with their cat.” The shared activity of training, especially with positive reinforcement, fosters trust and strengthens the emotional connection.
Furthermore, training provides vital cognitive enrichment. Engaging a cat’s mind through learning tasks and tricks offers mental stimulation that can prevent boredom and associated behavioral problems. This “learning part” combined with the “rewards part” offers a holistic enrichment experience, contributing to a well-adjusted and satisfied cat.
Practical Tips for Effective Cat Training
To maximize the [cat training benefits] in your home, consider these guidelines:
- Focus on Life Skills: Prioritize behaviors that enhance your cat’s welfare, such as carrier training, toothbrushing, accepting medication, and nail clipping.
- Use High-Value Rewards: Identify what motivates your cat most—usually small, palatable food treats—and use these as positive reinforcement. Don’t expect your cat to “work for free.”
- Keep it Fun and Short: Conduct brief (e.g., five-minute), enjoyable training sessions to prevent boredom and frustration.
- Offer Choice: Allow your cat to choose whether to participate. If they walk away, respect their decision and try again later with an even more appealing reward.
- Avoid Punishment: Never use aversive methods like yelling, squirt bottles, or physical punishment. These methods are detrimental to your cat’s welfare and your relationship.
- Meet Core Needs: Alongside training, ensure all your cat’s fundamental welfare needs are met. For example, instead of punishing scratching, provide appropriate scratching posts and positively reinforce their use. This also applies to general household habits where tools like training pads for cats could be implemented for specific needs or behaviors.
Conclusion
The idea that cats are untrainable is a myth that prevents many owners from realizing the full potential of their feline companions. By understanding the principles of associative learning and consistently applying positive reinforcement, cat owners can achieve remarkable [cat training benefits]. From transforming stressful vet visits and improving the welfare of shelter cats to strengthening the bond between pet and owner and providing crucial cognitive enrichment, training offers a profound pathway to a happier, healthier, and more integrated life for our cats. Embracing training is not just about teaching tricks; it’s about fostering a deeper connection and ensuring our beloved felines thrive in our homes and the wider world.
Adapted with permission of the publisher from the book Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy written by Zazie Todd and published by Greystone Books in May 2022.
